Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That these bills be now read a second time

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speech es read as follows—

CUSTOMS AMENDMENT (COLLECTING TOBACCO DUTIES AT THE BORDER) BILL 2018

The Australian Government is committed to combating the illicit tobacco black market.

In October 2017, the Black Economy Taskforce delivered their final report to Government. The 2018-19 Budget Black Economy Package – combatting illicit tobacco gives effect to the report's recommendations, including establishing a new framework to protect tobacco duty, a permit system to import tobacco, and the Australian Border Force-led Illicit Tobacco Taskforce.

Together, these measures will disrupt illicit tobacco supply chains and deny criminal groups access to illicit profits that fund their other criminal and black economy activities.

To give effect to the new framework to protect tobacco duty, the Government is introducing the Customs Amendment (Collecting Tobacco Duties at the Border) Bill.

Current legislation allows duties on tobacco to be paid at the point that tobacco products leave licensed warehouses, as well as when it is imported. Leakage from these warehouses to the black market contributes to around a quarter of illicit tobacco in Australia.

From 1 July 2019, tobacco importers will be required to pay all duties on tobacco upon importation. From that date, the option to enter imported tobacco into a licensed warehouse and delay the payment of duties will no longer be available. This will deny criminal groups the opportunity to defraud the Commonwealth of revenue that secures essential services for all Australians, prevent criminals from undermining Government strategies to improve public health outcomes, and it will protect law-abiding local business operators.

The Bill will also include transitional arrangements for the treatment of tobacco that is in warehouses at 1 July 2019.

By tackling black economy activities in the tobacco warehousing environment, the Government will protect Australian revenue, protect the health of Australians, reduce criminal activity, and provide an estimated $3.3 billion in revenue to the Commonwealth.

CUSTOMS AMENDMENT (PRODUCT SPECIFIC RULE MODERNISATION) BILL 2018

The Customs Amendment (Product Specific Rule Modernisation) Bill 2018 amends the Customs Act 1901 (Customs Act) to streamline the implementation of our free trade agreements (FTAs) and help facilitate smoother trade between Australia and our FTA partners.

The Bill does this by changing the way the product specific rules (PSRs) of Australia's FTAs are given effect in domestic legislation.

Australia's in force FTAs contain Rules of Origin and PSRs. PSRs define the minimum requirements that must be met for goods that are comprised of materials that do not originate in a party to the FTA — to be considered eligible for a preferential rate of customs duty in accordance with the FTA. The PSRs are based upon the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (Harmonized System).

The Harmonised System is an international naming system for the classification of traded products. It currently covers thousands of commodity groups, and is used by more than 200 economies as a basis for customs tariffs and the collection of international trade statistics. Over 98 per cent of merchandise in international trade is classified in terms of the Harmonised System.

Each FTA has a separate PSR Annex, which is currently (with the exception of the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA)), implemented domestically in Rules of Origin regulations (ROO regulations) for each FTA. Five yearly revisions of the Harmonized System by the World Customs Organization usually compel FTA parties to update their agreements' PSRs, which, in Australia's case, mean subsequent amendments to the FTA's ROO regulations. The size of these regulations ranges from 257 to 1,977 pages. Due to their size and the steadily increasing number of FTAs (currently 10), amendment of the ROO regulations to update the PSRs requires considerable time and resources for what are essentially technical changes that do not alter the operation of the treaty and do not have any direct financial implications for government, traders or consumers.

The proposed amendments seek to simplify this process by amending the Customs Act to apply FTA PSR annexes agreed by Parties by direct reference and remove the need to replicate PSR annexes in ROO Regulations.

The proposed amendments to the Act are technical in nature. They will not affect the practical operation of the legislation or the agreements that are the subject of the Bill.

Parties to the Agreement to Establish the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area, otherwise known as the `AANZFTA' (pronounced: `Anz-F'Ta') have agreed to take whatever steps are necessary to bring the HS2017 PSR schedule into force domestically on 1 January 2019.

These amendments will ensure that Australia is able to meet its AANZFTA deadline, to minimise the administrative burden on Australian businesses and officials in trying to juggle new and old HS codes, and will further streamline trade between Australia and our FTA partners. In 2017, trade with Australia under AANZFTA totalled AUD120 billion.

ChAFTA and JAEPA PSR annexes are also included in the amendments, which will simplify the transposition process for these agreements once the FTA Parties have agreed them. Further similar amendments to the Customs Act will be brought to Parliament to facilitate the update of the PSRs of Australia's other existing FTAs in the foreseeable future.

The Bill before this Chamber will allow the revised PSR schedules of these FTAs to enter into force in a far more efficient and timely manner. Once these amendments are made, future changes to the PSR annexes for AANZFTA, ChAFTA, and JAEPA will be able to be made simply by the completion of any provisions contained in the agreement pertaining to such updates, and completion of Australia's domestic treaty-making process.

The Bill also refers to and applies the Annex containing the Chemical Rules of the SAFTA, which were not included in the amendments to the Customs Act that implemented the Agreement to Amend the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement in 2017. The Bill also makes minor amendments to existing FTA Divisions in the Customs Act. These minor amendments will ensure consistency between our legislation and the FTA text in the Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Chile and ASEAN-New Zealand FTAs.

The Government is committed to the passage of these amendments in 2018. They will greatly reduce the administrative burden of the current transposition process, cutting costs for business and taxpayers, with flow on benefits to consumers and households.

In passing this Bill, the Government honours its commitments to its FTA partners to ensure our agreements remain up to date, supporting our jobs and growth agenda, reducing red-tape for Australian businesses, and helping to keep costs down for Australian households.

I commend the bill to this Chamber.

TREASURY LAWS AMENDMENT (GIFT CARDS) BILL 2018

This Bill amends the Australian Consumer Law, contained in Schedule 2 of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, to introduce a national regime for the regulation of gift cards.

It introduces a minimum three year expiry period, requires expiry date information to be disclosed and bans the charging of post-supply fees to provide consumers with greater confidence and make gift cards simpler and fairer for all consumers.

At the same time, the reforms will ensure Australian businesses have one set of clear rules to follow relating to the regulation of gift cards.

Gift card terms and conditions vary widely, making it hard for consumers to understand what their rights and obligations are. Consumers often experience frustration and financial loss from an expired gift card.

There is currently no uniform regulation for minimum expiry periods and post-supply fees, with different rules applying across jurisdictions. The inconsistencies have created uncertainty for consumers and a regulatory burden for businesses.

On 18 October 2017, the New South Wales Parliament passed the Fair Trading Amendment (Ticket Scalping and Gift Cards) Act 2017. This law commenced on 31 March 2018, introducing a minimum three year expiry for gift cards sold in New South Wales.

Similarly, the South Australian Parliament recently introduced the Fair Trading (Gift cards) Amendment Bill 2018 to impose a three year minimum expiry date for gift cards sold in South Australia.

Three years has generally been considered a reasonable period for consumers to use gift cards and simultaneously provides businesses with sufficient certainty to manage their liabilities. To date a number of national retailers have already adopted the three year minimum expiry period or longer terms following the introduction of gift card laws in New South Wales.

The Bill imposes a three year minimum nationally, balancing consumer rights and business compliance. It will also require the expiry date information to be prominently displayed on the card itself. This will ensure consumers are able to make informed purchasing decisions by having access to this information at the time it is needed and on the gift card itself, rather than on accompanying packaging or on a website.

When a gift card is given, it is not necessarily the case the expiry date information is clear to the gift recipient. The form of disclosure provides the needed flexibility to businesses while being clear for consumers.

Further, under the national regime the charging of post-supply fees, such as inactivity and balance checking fees, after the gift card has been supplied will be prohibited. The Bill's regulation-making power will also allow the Government to provide an exhaustive list of fees for gift cards that can be charged post-supply.

In addition, regulation-making powers contained in the bill allow for certain gift cards, persons and gift cards supplied in particular circumstances to be exempt from all or some of the requirements imposed by this reform. This will provide flexibility to support industry to adopt innovative marketing techniques to encourage demand and manage stock levels. It will also allow the law to adapt to changes in technology and business activities to ensure essential activities involving gift cards are not curtailed to the detriment of businesses and consumers.

It is an offence to contravene the reforms contained in the bill. This will act as a strong deterrent against misconduct that can have serious detriment for consumers, thereby enhancing the integrity of the regulatory regime.

A contravention of the minimum three year expiry period, disclosure of expiry information and post-supply fee requirements carries a maximum penalty of $30,000 for a body corporate and $6,000 for persons other than a body corporate. The maximum penalties are consistent with similar consumer protections in the Australian Consumer Law.

Compliance with these reforms will be monitored and enforced by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.

To provide industry with time to adapt to the new regime, the reforms will commence on

1 November 2019. This will also ensure that these important protections for consumers are in place for the 2019 Christmas period.

Consumers and businesses support this reform as it improves consumer outcomes, provides consistency and is workable for business. The states and territories have also shown their support for a national regime.

Full details of the measure are contained in the Explanatory Memorandum.

VETERANS' AFFAIRS LEGISLATION AMENDMENT (OMNIBUS) BILL 2018

The Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Omnibus) Bill 2018 demonstrates the commitment this Government made in 2016 and 2017 to put veterans first and continues on measures we introduced earlier this year under the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Veteran-centric Reforms No.1) Act 2018 and Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Veteran-centric Reforms No.2) Act 2018.

The Bill is designed to improve outcomes for serving Australian Defence Force members, veterans and their families and will ensure that essential services are available to veterans when they need it. This Bill will:

and

Schedule 1 of the Bill would amend the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 to enable the Chief of the Defence Force to make a claim for liability on behalf of a current serving Australian Defence Force member, where the member suffers a service injury or disease and agrees to the Chief of the Defence Force or his delegate making the claim. This amendment would provide an alternative way that a claim for liability may be made. In some cases, it may facilitate an earlier acceptance of liability.

The amendment is intended to benefit veterans by minimising some of the difficulties that may be encountered when making an initial claim for liability some time after the injury was sustained or the disease contracted.

Veterans will also benefit in having their future claims for related diseases and conditions that manifest after their service more easily accepted. For example if DVA accepts a knee injury at the time of the injury via a claim from the CDF, accepting osteoarthritis of the knee in the future will be much easier.

DVA will be able to use the additional claim data at the point of injury to better inform decisions around trends in injuries and onset of other conditions. This may inform later policy on simplifying and streamlining the claims process.

Schedule 2 of the Bill would enable the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Commission to obtain information in determining a claim for compensation under the Safety Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related) Claims Act 1988 (DRCA).

Veterans can be adversely affected when information critical to their claim is not provided by third parties. These provisions will provide veterans and their families with easier access to information relevant to their compensation claims.

The provisions will require Commonwealth, State or Territory Departments, authorities and other persons such as current or former treatment providers or other parties to provide information, on request of the Commission. This will ensure that the Commission has access to all the information necessary to make decisions on claims.

The amendments would bring the DRCA in line with the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 and the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986.

Schedule 3 would improve administrative practices in the Department of Veterans' Affairs concerning income support clients and the exempting of certain lump sum payments from the income test.

The amendments to the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 would allow certain exempt lump sum determinations made by the Secretary for Social Services to apply to income support clients, where the determination is consistent with Department of Veterans' Affairs legislation and policy.

Currently, the Repatriation Commission makes separate, yet identical, exempt lump sum determinations for payments that have already been exempted under the Social Security Act 1991 by the Secretary for Social Services.

Under the new arrangements, DSS will advise DVA of its determination, which will be applied to DVA income support clients without the requirement to register an additional instrument.

The Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 will retain the authority for the Repatriation Commission to make a determination to specify an exempt lump sum is an amount that the Repatriation Commission determines to be an exempt lump sum. The amendment will not change the current exclusions of the determination as it applies to companies, trusts and primary production.

Each of these amendments will mean better outcomes for veterans and their families.

I commend this Bill.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the bills be listed on the Notice Paper as separate orders of the day.